AUGUST 2023 – As a person who grew up inside a social service organization on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 1970s — the early days of the deinstitutionalization of people with mental illness — I have a lack of patience when it comes to finding solutions to complex social problems. Why am I so impatient? Human lives are at stake. Compassion, creativity, and curiosity (the 3-Cs, as I think of them) are the key ingredients to forging change. My impatience motivates me on all 3-C fronts to find and foster nontraditional solutions to complex problems, including the decriminalization of mental illness.
JULY 2023 – Today, July 16, 2023, marks the one-year anniversary of 988, the new three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. Its existence is the result of years of advocacy efforts by numerous individuals and organizations, many of which the Foundation is honored to partner with and support. In a nation where mental illness continues to be criminalized, 988 offers a promising opportunity to ensure people in mental health crises receive care rather than punishment and incarceration.
JUNE 2023 – I write this under the haze of poor air quality impacting Canada and much of the United States. As I do so, I cannot help but think about climate change and its impact on our work to decriminalize mental illness. In late May, the World Health Organization issued an urgent call for global climate action to create resilient and sustainable health systems. How do we heed this call? And, importantly, what impact does this call have on our work to decriminalize mental illness?
We all exist within a built environment. Access to mental health care depends on the stability of the built environment, which – already inadequate to ensure access to care – is being further challenged by climate change.
How do we begin to address these issues?
The Foundation recently kicked off a series of Global Solution Labs to surface more knowledge and perspectives about how to create a future where mental illness is not treated as a crime. Over 50 multidisciplinary “Solutionists” gathered on May 7, 2021, to take on the ambitious task of identifying the top solutions to move the needle on the decriminalization of mental illness.
In the spirit of collaboration, we recently hosted a Virtual Book Club featuring authors and renowned psychiatrist Dr. James Knoll and renowned psychologist Dr. Joel Dvoskin. Led by Sozosei Board Member, Mary Chi Michael, Dr. Knoll and Dr. Dvoskin discussed their contribution to the recently released book, “Decriminalizing Mental Illness” with more than 100 attendees.